


Rafael Lightwood-Bane

by imaginess



Series: Parenthood [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon - Book, Family, Family Dynamics, M/M, Malec, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Oneshot, Parabatai, Parent Alec Lightwood, Parent Magnus Bane, Parenthood, uncle jace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-15 02:57:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14782334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginess/pseuds/imaginess
Summary: Rafael trains with Uncle Jace and reflects on his family.**Oneshot, can be read apart from the series**





	Rafael Lightwood-Bane

Rafael spent a lot of time in the New York Institute. His dad took him to work most days when Papa didn’t have a lesson for them at home. Max sometimes came along, but he often had private lessons.

Dad and Papa had given him a talk about these lessons when they first started. Max was six and Rafael was eight at the time.

“Papa has a lot to teach Max about how to be a warlock.” his dad had said. “Just like I have a lot to teach you about being a Nephilim.”

“This doesn’t make either of you more special or important to us.” his papa had added. “We just want you and your brother to grow up to be smart, strong, and educated.”

The lessons weren’t a big deal to Rafael. He used to be a little jealous of Max, who got to make plants grow, mix potions, and make things explode. Nephilim lessons were all just reading boring history and memorizing runes.

He didn’t even know if he’d ever have runes. His dads wanted him to wait until he was fourteen to decide if he wanted to be a Shadowhunter. He was twelve now, and still wasn’t sure.

He liked fighting. His dad and Uncle Jace sometimes let him practice moves with wooden training blades. It didn’t happen often, because Rafael knew it made his dads argue.

His dads almost never fought, but Rafael had overheard them the night he had played with a training blade for the first time. Rafael thought he must have been ten at the time.

“It’s not training; it’s playing. And it’s only if he wants to, there’s no way he can get hurt—“

“It’s idealizing hunting.” his Papa’s voice cut in. “We don’t know if he wants to hunt demons and we shouldn’t be showing him that it’s fun.”

“It _is_ fun. He’s a kid, he wants to use up some of his energy. When Jace and I-“

“You and Jace were raised to be Shadowhunters. I support you, but I won’t have our son turned into a child soldier.“

“Magnus, you know I don’t want that.” his dad’s voice had risen. “After what happened to my brother, how could you say-“

Rafael had known they were talking about his Uncle Max, who died before his brother Max was born.

“Well why do you have him training, then? We agreed no violence, no Clave rules-“

“That’s not fair. You’ve been teaching Max violent magic, how is this any different?”

“Don’t you dare.” He had never heard his father so quiet yet so angry. “I would _never_ teach my son to use magic for violence.”

“I never said you would! I know you’re not your father, but _you_ need to know that I’m not my mother!” his dad had replied. “I want Rafael to think for himself same as you.”

Rafael had snuck back to bed after that. He guessed that his dads had come to some kind of agreement, because he had kept learning to fight on the odd day.

That morning Dad had been really busy with work and couldn’t give him a lesson like he promised, so Uncle Jace took over. Whenever he had a lesson with Uncle Jace they always ended up in the training room.

“Move your feet.”

Rafael tried to move quicker to avoid the training blade, but his uncle tapped it against his side.

He huffed at the defeat, dropping his arms and turning to take a breather.

“Jace is right, you need to move your feet.” Raf looked up in surprise to see his papa leaning against the door frame, watching.

“Papa, what are you doing here?”

“I came to meet with your dad on business. Thought I’d see if your Uncle’s been teaching you well.”

Rafael rolled his eyes, “What would you know about fighting, Papa?”

Uncle Jace put a hand on his shoulder. “Drop the attitude, kid. I fought beside your Papa during the war-“

“Jace.” Rafael looked between his uncle and father as they exchanged a look.

“Sorry, Magnus.”

Rafael decided to wait until his father left before questioning his uncle about that. His dads never lied to him or Max, but some things they just wouldn’t talk about.

Uncle Jace would tell him anything he wanted to know.

Raf thought his uncle was pretty cool. Aunt Izzy was alright too, but everyone else at the Institute was incredibly lame.

He’d said as much over dinner once, and his papa had nearly choked on his drink from laughing so hard. His dad’s only reaction was to shake his head and say, “He gets this attitude from you, you know.”

Everyone who actually knew their family said that he took after his papa. Strangers, particularly Shadowhunters, claimed he was the spitting image of his dad.

He remembered his dad dragging him to a wedding in Idris once, because Papa and Max weren’t allowed.

An old shadowhunter woman had bent down to his level and said, “You are a very handsome young man. If we didn’t all know about your father, one could easily think you were his real son.”

He was sure she was just trying to be nice, but Rafael didn’t tell his dad what she said. His dad got really upset when people said stuff like that, and he usually needed Papa to calm him down.

Rafael was old enough to realize that lots of Shadowhunters didn’t like his dad. He knew his dad was a hero from fighting in the Shadow Wars, and everyone at the New York Institute respected him. But apparently people from Idris were still mad that he’d married Papa.

“Do either of you know where Max is?” Papa asked them.

Uncle Jace chimed in before he could, “Izzy’s with him. Probably check the armoury, or the morgue.”

Papa pushed himself off of the wall and turned to exit. “Of course. Where else would I hope to find my ten-year-old.” he muttered and Raf and Jace shared a grin.

“Alright, kid. Should we try something new?” 

**Author's Note:**

> I know there wasn’t really a plot to this, but I just started writing and this happened.


End file.
